Method of producing a printer which facilitates clearing a jammed document

ABSTRACT

A method of producing a printer so as to effect a low profile for sit/stand operations and to facilitate the removal of a jammed document from a print station in the printer. The printer is formed of a bottom portion and a top portion which are hinged together to enable these portions to be moved from an operative or assembled position and an open position which exposes the print station to facilitate the removal of a jammed document. The bottom portion has an overall height which is small relative to the overall height of the top portion so as to make the printer conducive to sit/stand operations. Latches are used to detachably latch the bottom and the top portions in the assembled and open positions mentioned.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

This invention relates to a method of producing a printer so as toeffect a low profile for sit/stand operations and also to facilitate theremoval of a jammed document from a print station in the printer.

2. Background Information

In recent years, there has been a trend towards making business machinesmore compact and more versatile. Making the machines more compact tendsto complicate matters as far as removing a document which may becomejammed at a print station within a business machine, like a printer, forexample. Changing ribbons or ribbon cassettes used in printers alsotends to be cumbersome.

A recent trend in making business machines more versatile relates tomake them conducive to being used by an operator when the operator isstanding or sitting at the machine. Some prior art business machineshave too high a profile for use in such sit/stand operations.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention obviates the problems mentioned in that a printermade according to this invention has a low profile which is conducive tosit/stand operations.

The present invention also produces a printer which facilitates theremoval of a document which is jammed at the associated print station ofthe printer. Changing inked ribbon cassettes is also facilitated by thedesign of the printer of this invention.

In a preferred embodiment of this invention there is provided a methodof producing a printer so as to effect a low profile for sit/standoperations by an operator using said printer and also to facilitate theremoval of a jammed document from a print station in said printer,comprising the steps:

(a) forming a bottom portion and a top portion of a housing for saidprinter so that said print station and a document path leading to saidprint station lie between the bottom and top portions when the topportion is positioned over the bottom portion in assembled relationshiptherewith;

(b) providing a pivot for the bottom and top portions to enable the topportion to be pivoted from the assembled relationship mentioned in step(a) to an opened position which exposes said print station and saiddocument path to facilitate removing said jammed document;

(c) forming said bottom portion so that its overall height is small inrelation to the overall height of said top portion; however, the overallheight of the bottom portion is made substantially small to make itconducive for sit/stand operations and for housing pinch rollersassociated with a document feed mechanism associated with said printer;

(d) locating drive rollers associated with said feed mechanism in saidtop portion so that said drive rollers are in operative relationshipwith said pinch rollers when said top and bottom portions are in saidassembled relationship to enable said feed mechanism to feed a documentto said print station;

(e) locating a printing mechanism including a print head in said topportion so that said print head is in operative relationship with saidprint station when said top and bottom portions are in said assembledrelationship;

(f) locating a platen associated with said printing mechanism in saidbottom portion;

(g) providing a moveable panel on said top portion to enable an operatorto gain access to the interior of said top portion and said printingmechanism; and

(h) providing latching means for detachably latching said bottom and topportions in said assembled relationship and said opened position.

In another aspect of the invention, there is provided a printercomprising:

a bottom portion and a top portion which form a housing for said printerwhen in an assembled relationship, said printer having a print stationand a document path leading to said print station which lie between saidfirst and second portions when said first and second portions are insaid assembled relationship;

a feed mechanism including pinch rollers and drive rollers for feeding adocument along along said document path to said print station when saidbottom and top portions are in said assembled relationship;

said feed rollers being mounted in said bottom portion, said bottomportion having an overall height which is substantially small comparedto the overall height of said top portion;

said drive rollers being mounted in said top portion so that said driverollers are in operative relationship with said pinch rollers when saidbottom and top portions are in said assembled relationship to enablesaid feed mechanism to feed a document to said print station;

a printing mechanism including a print head mounted in said top portionso that said print head is in operative relationship with said printstation when said bottom and top portions are in said assembledrelationship;

hinge means for pivotally joining said bottom and top portions togetherto enable said top portion to be pivoted between said assembledrelationship and an opened position which exposes said print station andsaid document path;

said top portion having a moveable panel to enable an operator to gainaccess to the interior of said top portion and said printing mechanism;and

latching means for detachably latching said bottom and top portions insaid assembled relationship and said opened position.

These advantages and others will be more readily understood inconnection with the following description, claims, and drawing.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a general perspective view of a preferred embodiment of thisinvention showing a printer having a bottom portion and a top portion,with these bottom and top portions being shown in the normal operatingor assembled relationship.

FIG. 2 is a general perspective view of the printer shown in FIG. 1,with the top portion of the printer being pivoted from the assembledrelationship with the bottom portion shown in FIG. 1 to an openedposition which exposes a print station in the printer and which alsofacilitates the removal of a jammed document from the print station.

FIG. 3 is a side view, in elevation, of the printer shown in FIGS. 1 and2, and it shows the pivoting means to enable the top portion to be movedto the position shown in FIG. 2. FIG. 3 is taken from the direction ofarrow A of FIG. 1.

FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram, in block form, of a control board andvarious other elements for controlling the operation of the printershown in FIG. 1.

FIG. 5 is is a side view, in elevation, of a latch used for holding thetop and bottom portions in the assembled relationship shown in FIG. 1and is taken from the general direction of arrow A shown in FIG. 1.Certain portions of the printer are removed to facilitate this showing.

FIG. 6 is an end view, in elevation, of the latch shown in FIG. 5.

FIG. 7 is a side view, in elevation, of a latch used for holding the topportion of the printer in the open position shown in FIG. 2 and is takenfrom the direction of arrow B shown in FIG. 2, with certain portions ofthe top portion being removed to facilitate the showing.

FIG. 8 is and end view, in elevation, of the latch shown in FIG. 7.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

As stated earlier herein, one of the aims of producing the printer wasto design a printer so as to effect a low profile for sit/standoperations. In this regard, when an operator using the machine stands orsits at certain times during the processing of documents at a bank, forexample, it is desirable to provide a bottom half of the printer havingan overall height which is very small. FIG. 1 shows a printer 10 whichis made according to the method of this invention.

The printer 10 includes a bottom portion 12 and a top portion 14 whichare shown in the normal operating or assembled position in FIG. 1. Thetop portion 14 of the printer 10 also includes a panel 16 which includesa keyboard 18 and a display 20.

A first step in producing the printer 10 is to design it so that theassociated print station 22 (FIG. 2) and a document path 24 (FIG. 1)leading to the print station 22 lie between the bottom portion 12 andthe top portion 14 of the printer cabinet 26. The document path 24 has aguide rail 28 which provides a means for aligning a document as it ismoved towards the print station 22.

The next step in producing the printer 10 is to provide a pivot 30 forthe bottom and top portions 12 and 14 of the cabinet 26 so as to enablethe top portion 14 to be pivoted from the assembled position shown inFIG. 1 to the opened position shown in FIG. 2. In the opened position,the print station 22 is exposed, permitting a jammed document (notshown) which may be stuck at the print station 22 to be removed. Thepivot 30 is conventional, and it includes a pair of upright portions30-1, extending upwardly from the bottom portion 12, with only oneupright portion 30-1 shown in FIG. 3. The top portion 14 has a rod 30-2mounted therein, with the rod 30-2 being supported in the pair ofupright portions 30-1. Each of the upright portions 30-1 also has aslotted circular recess 30-3 therein to enable the rod 30-2 to bemounted therein as is conventionally done.

Another feature of this invention is that the bottom portion 12 is madeas small as it can be so as to make the printer 10 adaptable forsit/stand operations as previously discussed. As seen in FIG. 3, whichis drawn substantially to scale, the overall height of the bottomportion 12 is small compared to the overall height of the top portion14, and the absolute overall height of the bottom portion 12 is lessthan two inches in the embodiment described. Having the bottom portion12 small as described facilitates using the printer 10 when an operatorsits down to use the printer.

The bottom portion 12 houses a first bank of pinch rollers 32 which arerotatably mounted on a rod 34 (FIG. 3) and also houses a second bank ofpinch rollers 36 which are rotatably mounted on a rod 38. The first bankof pinch rollers 32 is mounted on one side of the print station 22 asshown in FIG. 2, and the second bank of pinch rollers 36 is mounted onthe other side of the print station 22. A rectangularly shaped platen 40is mounted between the first and second banks of pinch rollers 32 and 36as shown best in FIG. 2. The first and second banks of pinch rollers 32and 36 and the platen 40 are conventionally biased upwardly as shown inFIG. 3 by suitable springs (not shown). The platen 40 is mounted in agenerally "U"-shaped member 42 (FIG. 3) which extends along the lengthof the platen 40. The first and second banks of pinch rollers 32 and 36,just described, are part of a conventional document transport 44, shownschematically in FIG. 4.

Another step in the method of producing the printer 10 relates tolocating drive rollers associated with the document transport 44 in thetop portion 14 of the printer 10. When the top portion 14 is above thebottom portion 12 in the assembled position shown in FIG. 3, forexample, the drive rollers of the document transport 14 are in operativerelationship with the first and second banks of pinch rollers 36 and 38.In this regard, the drive rollers of the document transport 44 include afirst bank of drive rollers 46 and a second bank of drive rollers 48which are aligned with the first and second banks of pinch rollers 32and 36, respectively, as shown in FIG. 3. The first bank of driverollers 46 is mounted on a shaft 50, and correspondingly, the secondbank of drive rollers 48 is mounted on a shaft 52. The shafts 50 and 52are mounted in the side frames 54 and 56 which are shown in diagrammaticform in FIG. 2.

The document transport 44 also includes a bidirectional motor 58 (FIG.3) which is used to power the first and second banks of drive rollers 46and 48 to drive a document towards and away from the print station 22.The motor 58 has an output gear 60 which drives or rotates anintermediate gear 62, which in turn, rotates a gear 64 which is fixed tothe shaft 52 to rotate it and the drive rollers 48 mounted thereon. Adrive gear 66 is similarly fixed to the shaft 50 to rotate it and thefirst bank of drive rollers 46 fixed to the shaft 50. A gear 68, in meshwith both the gears 64 and 66, is used to rotate gear 66 in the samedirection as gear 66 is rotated to drive or rotate the first and secondbanks of drive rollers 46 and 48 in the same direction. The gear 68 ismounted on a rod 70, and the intermediate gear 62 is also mounted on arod 72. The rods 70 and 72 are mounted between the side frames 54 and56. The flange 58-1 of the motor 58 is secured to the side frame 54 bysuitable fasteners 58-2. Because the document transport means 44 justdescribed is conventional, it need not be described in any furtherdetail.

Another step in producing the printer 10 according to this invention isto locate the printing mechanism in the top portion 14. This printingmechanism includes a print head 74, an indexing mechanism 76 (FIG. 4) tomove the print head 74 along the length of the platen 40, and a motor 78to power the indexing mechanism 76. The indexing mechanism 76 isconventional and includes a carriage 80 and traversing screw (not shown)which are used to move the print head 74 along the length of the platen40 Because this aspect is conventional, it need not be described in anyfurther detail.

The print head also includes a ribbon bracket 82 which attaches to thelower end (as viewed in FIG. 2) of the print head 74 and guides a ribbon84 from the ribbon cassette 86 around the printing end of the printer74. One of the features of this invention is that when the top portion14 of the printer 10 is moved to the open position shown in FIG. 2,replacement of the ribbon cartridge 86 is facilitated. This is becausethe ribbon bracket 82 is moved away from the platen 40 to enable theribbon 84 to be handled more freely than when the print head 74 is closeto the platen 40 during normal printing when the top and bottom portions14 and 12 are in the assembled relationship shown in FIG. 2. The topportion 14 also has a slot 88 therein to enable the print head 74 to bepositioned close to the platen 40; although, for ease in showing, thisslot 88 is shown somewhat closer to the pivot 30 than is actually thecase.

Another step in the process of producing the printer 10 is to locate theplaten 40 associated with the printer 74 in the bottom portion 12 aspreviously described. The platen 40 has a ramp portion 90 on the rightside of the platen as viewed in FIG. 2. A roller (not shown) on theprint head 74 engages the ramp portion 90 when the print head 74 ismoved to a home position or the right side of the platen 40 as viewed inFIG. 2. The roller rides up the ramp portion 90 to lower the platen 40below the surface 24-1 of the document path 24 to enable a document tobe moved to the print station 22. The platen 40 is a "free floating"variety so that when the print head 74 moves off the ramp portion 90,platen 40 moves towards the print head 74 to accommodate differentthicknesses of documents or media.

Another step in producing the printer 10 is to provide a moveable panel16 for the top portion 14. This feature also facilitates clearing adocument which may be jammed at the print station 22, and it alsofacilitates changing a ribbon cassette 86, especially when the topportion 14 is in the position shown in FIG. 2. When in this position,the bracket 82 on the end of the print head 74 is spaced from the printstation 22, permitting easy access to the ribbon 84.

The moveable panel 16 has generally "L"-shaped arms 92 and 94 extendingfrom the inside of the moveable cover 16 as shown best in FIG. 2. Eacharm, like 92, is pivotally mounted on a stud 96 which extends from theinterior of the top portion 14 to enable the moveable panel 16 to bepivoted from the closed position shown in FIG. 1 to the opened positionshown in FIG. 2. Each arm, like 92, has a projection 98 extendingtherefrom to which one end of a tension spring 100 is secured, with theremaining end of he spring 100 being secured to a post 102 dependingfrom the top portion 14. The arrangement just described in relation toarms 92 and 94 provides a conventional "over-the-center" linkage toenable the moveable cover to be resiliently held in the open positionshown in FIG. 2 and to be resiliently held in the closed position shownin FIG. 1.

Another step in producing the printer 10 is to provide a latching meansfor detachably latching the bottom and top portions 12 and 14 in theassembled relationship shown in FIG. 1 and the open position shown inFIG. 2. In the embodiment described, there is a first set of latches fordetachably holding the top portion 14 and the bottom portion 12 in theassembled position shown in FIG. 1. In this regard, there is a latch 104located next to the side frame 54, as shown in FIG. 2, andcorrespondingly, there is a latch 106 located near the side frame 56.The latches 104 and 106 are mirror images of each other, soconsequently, only a description of latch 104 need be given.

The latch member 104 is generally "L"-shaped in outline as shown in FIG.5. The latch member 104 is pivotally joined to side frame 54 by asuitable means, shown as a pin 108, and it has a shoulder 110 whichabuts under a stop 112 located in the bottom portion 12. The lower endof the latch member 104 passes through an opening 114 in the bottomportion 12, and this member is kept in the position shown in FIG. 5 by aresilient pad 116 (secured to the side frame 54) which resilientlybiases the member in a counter-clockwise direction as viewed in FIG. 5.

The latch member 106 shown in FIG. 7 is a mirror image of the latchmember 104 just described. The latch member 106 is pivotally mounted inthe side frame 56 (represented by a pin 118) and is resiliently biasedin a clockwise direction (as viewed in FIG. 7) by a resilient pad 120which is secured to the side frame 56. The lower end 106-1 of the latchmember 106 engages a stop 122 in the bottom portion 12, and the upperend 106-2 engages the resilient pad 120.

In order to unlatch the top portion 14 from the bottom portion 12, anoperator moves the pane 16 from the position shown in FIG. 1 to theopened position shown in FIG. 2, exposing the interior of the topportion 14. The operator then places his/her left thumb under the topportion 14 in the area shown by arrow 124 in FIG. 1, and,correspondingly, places the right thumb under the top portion 14 in thearea shown by arrow 126. The operator's thumb nails would be contactingthe bottom portion 12 at this time. The operator then places the leftindex finger on the upper end 104-1 (FIG. 6) of the latch lever 104 andcompresses the resilient member 116 to thereby rotate the latch lever104 in a clockwise direction as viewed in FIG. 5. This action releasesthe lower end or shoulder 110 from the stop 112, permitting the topportion to be raised away from the bottom portion 12. The right indexfinger of the operator is correspondingly placed on the upper end 106-2of the latch lever 106 and compresses the resilient member 120 (FIGS. 7and 8) by moving the right index finger towards the right thumb, therebyrotating the latch lever 106 in a counter-clockwise direction (as viewedin FIG. 7) to release the shoulder 106-1 from the stop 122. When bothlatches 104 and 106 are released as just described, the top portion 14may be moved to the position shown in FIG. 2.

As the top portion 14 is moved towards the position shown in FIG. 2, asecond latch means comes into play. The second latch means includes alatch 124 (FIGS. 7 and 8) having its lower end 124-1 pivotally joined toa pivot member 126 upstanding from the bottom portion 12. The latchmember 124 has an elongated slot 124-2 therein to receive a stud 128which extends from the side frame 56. The elongated slot 124-2 has aradius of curvature whose origin lies at the center of the pivot 30(FIG. 3) As the top portion 14 is moved towards the position shown inFIG. 2, the stud 128 rides up the slot 124-2 (as viewed in FIG. 7) untilit clears the point 124-3, permitting gravity to pivot the link 124 in aclockwise direction about the pivot member 126. Thereafter, the stud 128drops into the recess 124-4 to retain the top portion 14 in the positionshown in FIG. 2. The location of the stud 128 in the recess 124-4 isshown in dashed outline in FIG. 7.

The upper portion of the latch 124 has a handle 124-5 to facilitatelowering the top portion 14 of the printer 10. To do this, an operatorsimply raises the top portion 14 slightly, and then pulls the handle124-5 of the latch 124 towards the front of the printer 10 (acounter-clockwise direction as viewed in FIG. 7) to permit the stud 128to pass over the point 124-3. Thereafter, the stud 128 rides down theslot 124-2, as viewed in FIG. 7, until the latch members 104 and 106become latched to the stops 112 and 122 as previously described. Thehandles 104-1, 106-2, and 124-5 of the various latches just describedare colored green according to color coding standards to make suchhandles visible to an operator when panel is moved to the position shownin FIG. 2. The color green indicates operator controlled elements.

Another feature of this invention is that the power supply 130 (FIG. 3)associated with the printer 10 is located in the top portion 14.Locating the power supply 130 here meant that normal convection coolingtechniques could be used to cool the supply 130 instead of having to usea cooling fan when a power supply is located in the bottom portion, like12, of a printer.

The printer 10 has a control board 132, including a microprocessor (MP)134 for controlling the operations of the printer 10 as isconventionally done. The control board 132 is located in the bottomportion 12 as seen in FIG. 3 which facilitates having a low profile forthe printer 10. The various elements of the printer 10 areconventionally interconnected as shown schematically in FIG. 4. Anotheradvantage of the printer 10 is that its design enables a redesign of thebottom portion 12 to add another printer, like a journal printer, forexample, without having to redesign the top portion 14 where most of theelements of the printer reside.

What is claimed is:
 1. A method of producing a printer so as to effect alow profile for sit/stand operations by an operator using said printerand also to facilitate the removal of a jammed document from a printstation in said printer, comprising the steps:(a) forming a bottomportion and a top portion of a housing for said printer so that saidprint station and a document path leading to said print station liebetween the bottom and top portions when the top portion is positionedover the bottom portion in assembled relationship therewith; (b)providing a pivot for the bottom and top portions to enable the topportion to be pivoted from the assembled relationship mentioned in step(a) to an opened position which exposes said print station and saiddocument path to facilitate removing said jammed document; (c) formingsaid bottom portion so that its overall height is small in relation tothe overall height of said top portion; however, the overall height ofthe bottom portion is made substantially small to make it conducive forsit/stand operations and for housing pinch rollers associated with adocument feed mechanism associated with said printer; (d) locating driverollers associated with said feed mechanism in said top portion so thatsaid drive rollers are in operative relationship with said pinch rollerswhen said top and bottom portions are in said assembled relationship toenable said feed mechanism to feed a document to said print station; (e)locating a printing mechanism including a print head in said top portionso that said print head is in operative relationship with said printstation when said top and bottom portions are in said assembledrelationship; (f) locating a platen associated with said printingmechanism in said bottom portion; (g) providing a moveable panel on saidtop portion to enable an operator to gain access to the interior of saidtop portion and said printing mechanism; and (h) providing latchingmeans for detachably latching said bottom and top portions in saidassembled relationship and said opened position.
 2. The method asclaimed in claim 1 in which said method includes the steps of:(i)providing a keyboard and a display panel on said moveable panel; and (j)locating in said bottom portion a control board for controlling theoperation of said printing mechanism, said keyboard, and said display.3. The method as claimed in claim 2 in which said forming step (c) iseffected by making said overall height of said bottom portion less than2 inches.
 4. A method of producing a printer so as to effect a lowprofile for sit/stand operations by an operator using said printer andalso to facilitate the removal of a jammed document from a print stationin said printer, comprising the steps:(a) forming a bottom portion and atop portion of a housing for said printer so that sad print station anda document path leading to said print station lie between the bottom andtop portions when the top portion is positioned over the bottom portionin assembled relationship therewith; (b) providing a pivot for thebottom and top portions to enable the top portion to be pivoted from theassembled relationship mentioned in step (a) to an opened position whichexposes said print station and said document path to facilitate removingsaid jammed document; (c) forming said bottom portion so overall heightis small in relation to the overall height of said top portion; however,the overall height of the bottom portion is made substantially as smallas can be made and still house pinch rollers associated with a documentfeed mechanism associated with said printer; (d) locating drive rollersassociated with said feed mechanism in said top portion so that saiddrive rollers are in operative relationship with said pinch rollers whensaid top and bottom portions are in said assembled relationship toenable said feed mechanism to feed a document to said print station; (e)locating a printing mechanism including a print head in said top portionso that said print head is in operative relationship with said printstation when said top and bottom portions are in said assembledrelationship; (f) locating a platen associated with said printingmechanism in said bottom portion; (g) providing a moveable panel on saidtop portion to enable an operator to gain access to the interior of saidtop portion and said printing mechanism; and (h)providing latching meansfor detachably latching said bottom and top portions in said assembledrelationship and said opened position.
 5. The method as claimed in claim4 in which said method includes the steps of:(i) providing a keyboardand a display panel on said moveable panel; and (j) locating in saidbottom portion a control board for controlling the operation of saidprinting mechanism, said keyboard, and said display.
 6. A printercomprising:a bottom portion and a top portion which form a housing forsaid printer when in an assembled relationship, said printer having aprint station and a document path leading to said print station whichboth lie between said bottom and top portions when said bottom and topportions are in said assembled relationship; a feed mechanism includingpinch rollers and drive rollers for feeding a document along saiddocument path to said print station when said bottom and top portionsare in said assembled relationship; said pinch rollers being mounted insaid bottom portion, said bottom portion having an overall height whichis substantially small compared to the overall height of said topportion; said drive rollers being mounted in said top portion so thatsaid drive rollers are in operative relationship with said pinch rollerswhen said bottom and top portions are in said assembled relationships toenable said feed mechanism to feed a document to said print station; aprinting mechanism including a print head mounted in said top portion sothat said print head is in operative relationship with said printstation when said bottom and top portions are in said assembledrelationship; hinge means for pivotally joining said bottom and topportions together to enable said top portion to be pivoted between saidassembled relationship and an opened position which exposes said printstation and said document path; said top portion having a moveable panelto enable an operator to gain access to the interior of said top portionand said printing mechanism; and latching means for detachably latchingsaid bottom and top portions in said assembled relationship and saidopened position.
 7. The printer as claimed in claim 6 in which saidoverall height of said bottom portion in substantially as small as itcan be and still house said pinch rollers.
 8. The printer as claimed inclaim 6 in which said overall height of said bottom portion in less thantwo inches.
 9. The printer as claimed in claim 8 in which said moveablepanel has a keyboard and a display panel thereon, and in which saidbottom portion has a control board therein for controlling the operationof said printing mechanism, keyboard, and display panel.
 10. The printeras claimed in claim 6 in which said latching means have operatingmembers which are located in said top portion, and in which saidlatching means including first latches and a second latch, with saidfirst latches being used to latch said bottom and top portions in saidassembled relationship, and said second latch being used to latch saidbottom and top portions in said opened position.